Often, product manufacturers receive customer orders specified in electronic files including Computer Assisted Design (CAD) models. A need exists for methods and apparatus to support the prediction of appraisals and production alternatives related to manufactured products, including times, manufacture methods, and costs incurred in manufacture processes. Many manufacture companies rely on human experience alone or have no standardized methodologies to predict appraisals and other aspects associated with the manufacture of products. Relying on human experience alone can result in inaccurate and can lead to inconsistencies across appraisals and other predictions made by different human estimators with respect to similar or identical products. Moreover, the lack of reliable objective manufacture appraisal and prediction tools capable to operate in near real-time can significantly contribute to the overhead of manufacture of products.
Thus, a need exists for methods and apparatus for discretization and reliable manufacture analysis tools to accurately predict aspects associated with the production of products specified in CAD or other digital-based models.